Democracy Now's full hour show on Hiroshima today:
here.
Or stream
here.
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Laura's SPIN :: The Hiroshima Anniversary
From The British Guardian newspaper, July 31:
"It should have been a beautiful day in Hiroshima. There was hardly a cloud in the sky when the
American planes appeared high overhead; they were clearly visible to those watching from the ground.
The attack sirens had sounded at around 7am when the planes were first spotted approaching the
Japanese coast, but at around 8am the all-clear had been given. The Hiroshima radar operator had
said there were no more than three in coming planes. What damage could three planes do? It was
probably a reconnaissance mission. Many of the victims were still emerging from air raid shelters when
the bomb was released.
The bomb doors of the Enola Gay overhead opened at 8.15am and about 40 seconds later the bomb
exploded, around 600m above the city. The Americans knew this was the way to cause the most devastation....."
Up to 140,000 people are thought to have been killed August 6th, 1945, when an atomic bomb was
dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. As many as 80,000 more died when a second device was
exploded in the skies above Nagasaki three days later. Ironically, the same day that the Guardian dedicated
a feature to new research on the death toll, the newspaper also reported on two other developments:
the Bush administration has quietly disbanded the only quasi-independent experts panel which provided
oversight of the development of US nuclear weapons and is pushing for a new generation of nukes.
How are you going to mark the Hiroshima Anniversary?
US
scraps nuclear weapons watchdog.
The day the sky
exploded.
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Hiroshima David Rovics Ten thousand children played in the playground
Swinging on the swings, didn't hear the sound
Of the single plane that flew overhead
The third shift workers were just going to bed
There was a flash of light and a rumbling noise
And gone in a flash, parents, girls and boys
Ten thousand mothers were boiling rice
A thousand POW's were rolling dice
Hoping they'd survive this terrible storm
When each young man in his uniform
Vanished in the air in the blink of an eye
One moment they lived, the next they all die
Hiroshima, Hiroshima
Ten thousand chickens were sitting on eggs
Heads in their wings, resting their legs
Ten thousand farmers were looking at their fields
Planning the harvest, guessing at yields
Dreaming of life after the war
The next second they weren't living no more
Hiroshima, Hiroshima
Ten thousand lovers made lover to each other
Each one of them thinking they might not get another
Living so long with death everywhere
Much more than one person alone can bear
But there wasn't time for a final kiss
Who could've known it would end like this
Hiroshima, Hiroshima
A hundred thousand people were living their lives
Grandparents, children, fathers and wives
Now they're just shadows on the street
In such a quick burst of incredible heat
Now listen to them talk about doing it again
From whence came the souls of these terrible men
Hiroshima, Hiroshima
Created May, 2003
Copyright
David Rovics 2003, all rights reserved